Despite More Dollars, Veteran Suicides Remain Unchanged

Eighteen Veterans a day commit suicide. Unfortunately, this is not “new” news, nor is it encouraging. Despite the increase in education and dollars, some of America’s finest men and women continue to lose hope as well as their sense of purpose and call it quits.

Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric K. Shinseki, recognizing the issue, is working aggressively to find a solution and recently announced that the department would add approximately 1,900 mental health clinicians to include nurses, psychiatrists, psychologists, and social workers, as well as nearly 300 support staff to its existing workforce of 20,590 mental health staff, as part of an ongoing review of mental health operations.

VA’s ongoing comprehensive review of mental health operations has indicated that some VA facilities require more mental health staff to serve the growing needs of Veterans. VA is moving quickly to address this as top priority.

And the solution needs to be found quickly. The Army released suicide data a few days ago for the month of March. During March, among active-duty Soldiers, there were 18 potential suicides: three have been confirmed as suicides and 15 remain under investigation.

Also during March, among Reserve Component Soldiers who were not on active duty, there were 10 potential suicides (seven Army National Guard and three Army Reserve): four have been confirmed as suicides and six remain under investigation.

Bottom line: one suicide is one too many.

Soldiers and families in need of crisis assistance can contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline. Trained consultants are available 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year and can be contacted by dialing 1-800-273-TALK (8255) or by visiting their website at http://www.suicidepreventionlifeline.org